Tancredo a Bad Christian

Fred W over at The Mad Prophet draws our attention to the pathetic silliness of Tom Tancredo. You remember when Hillary Clinton said that the new immigration bill was un-Christian? Well, Here’s what Tom thinks of that:

TANCREDO: I’m not really surprised that Hillary Clinton doesn’t know the first thing about the Bible. Her impression, her analysis, her interpretation of both the law and the Bible are certainly wrong to say the least. This has nothing to do, the bill we passed out of the House has nothing to do with criminalizing Good Samaritans.

But, as Fred W points out, Tancredo is simply wrong:

According to Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney, the proposed provision ‘is so broad that it would criminalize even minor acts of mercy like offering a meal or administering first aid.’ Mahoney has instructed the priests of his archdiocese to disobey the law if it is enacted.

It sure is inconvenient when your version of a religion, which you use to convince voters to elect you, conflicts with the actual religion as described in its founding document. Having read the bible, I can say clearly that the message of the new testament involved a great deal of ministering to others despite their background, country of origin, or religious beliefs. The recent immigration bill criminalizes knowing someone who is in the country illegally, much less offering them any help if they are in need. And that, my friends, is totally un-Christian, if not anti-Christian.

4 Replies to “Tancredo a Bad Christian”

Wait a minute, Congressman Tancredo is wrong because Cardinal Mahoney says he is? The bill as passed only criminilzes actions designed to induce or facilitate bringing illegals into the US. It is not (as I read it) an absolute liability crime which is as Cardinal Mahoney is describing it.

So, if you feed or offer shelter to someone who turns out to be illegally here, there attaches no criminal sanctions. But if your offer of food or shelter is part of a larger scheme to bring these people into the country , then yes that will be illegal. In fact, it already is…but we don’t see priests and nuns being dragged off to the dungeons now, do we?

If Cardinal Mahoney feels better by telling his priests to disobey a law in a way that is not disobedience….well, good for you Cardinal, knock yourself out.

You make a good point. I would like to think that everyone agrees that the law should not forbid offering emergency help to someone in need, and, as you say, it does not. In a larger sense, though, the problem really comes when you try to determine what exactly constitutes helping people enter or stay in the country. It is a gray area that I wish the law addressed more clearly.

The other point I was making had to do with Tancredo’s dismissal of Hillary’s assertion in blanket terms, when clearly there are some good points in the Christian critique of the law. Not that I necessarily think that religious ethics ought to be a major factor in validating a law anyway, but she brought it up.